1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for device joining and alignment in the areas of solid state lasers, photonics and electronics packaging, optoelectronic and photonic devices, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), MOEMS (Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems), and wafer scale bumping and joining.
2. Background Art
Note that the following discussion refers to a number of publications and references. Discussion of such publications herein is given for more complete background of the scientific principles and is not to be construed as an admission that such publications are prior art for patentability determination purposes.
Achieving optimum functionality of MEMS devices and photonic active devices such as solid state lasers, LEDs and other devices is dependent in part upon achieving and maintaining accurate spatial alignment of the device, in up to six degrees of freedom, relative to other components of the system such as optical fibers, optical waveguides, electrical conductors and other devices located on the substrate or within the package. In many cases, improper spatial alignment or alignment drift renders the device non-operational. Present strategies for device alignment focus primarily on simply orienting the components, bonding them and then attempting to adjust the alignment afterwards to improve the functionality of the device.
Other methods of aligning devices using magnetic fields are known; see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,348. However, these methods typically require that both devices to be aligned have magnetic areas which are attracted to each other. The methods also are capable of aligning devices only in a predetermined arrangement, and cannot adjust the relative alignment in response to a measured signal.